Synopses & Reviews
In 1901, two literary gentlemen were appointed a novel task: to preserve the memory of Queen Victoria in her own words. By the time they were finished, 460 volumes of the Queens correspondence had become just three; their decisions and distortions would influence perceptions of Victoria for generations to come. The editors chosen for the task were deeply eccentric and complicated men. Baron Esher was the consummate royal confidant who hid his obsession with Eton boys and incestuous relationship with his youngest son behind a persona of charm and discretion. Arthur Benson, an ex-Etonian master and closeted homosexual, struggled to fit in with the blue-blooded clubs and codes of the court while fighting bouts of severe depression. Together with King Edward VII they would decide how Victoria was to be remembered avoiding scandal, protecting the new king, promoting their own preconceptions about Victoria and her court, obscuring her role as a mother, and propping up the politics of the day. Based on unprecedented access to the original archives, this is a fascinating piece of historical detective work.
Review
Original and important, this book represents a major contribution to our understanding of the modern British monarchy.” Sir David Cannadine
Hats off to Yvonne Ward . . . who has exposed the gentlemanly networks that tried to hide the truth about Queen Victoria.” Robert Lacey
Review
"Now a remarkable and clever new book, Censoring Queen Victoria: How Two Gentlemen Edited a Queen and Created an Icon,” by Yvonne M. Ward, documents how the historical record was warped by the two men who edited Victorias official letters and defined her as subordinate queen in the words of her biographer Lytton Strachey, a mere accessory” to the men who surrounded her."
New York Times"An unusual and fascinating booki....Yvonne Ward has the perceptiveness to present in a new light what at first sight might seem a well-todden subject, deploying her own knowledge and archival research to make a fascinating read by re-editing the editors." - Literary Review
"Original and engaging" - Spectator
"Yvonne Ward's exposure of the motives and the men behind this skilful piece of powerfully persuasive and permanent Edwardian political spin is astonishing." The Times
"Yvonne Ward tells a complicated story clearly and simply." Mail on Sunday
"This book does a great deal to show the real person behind our received image."We Love this Book"Ward argues convincingly that Esher and Benson's radical pruning of Queen Victoria's early correspondence has had a profound effect on her posthumous reputation. Access to the original letters, which are kept in Windsor Castle's Round Tower, has always been a touch-and-go business, even for bona fide researchers. How much easier to stay at home and rely on Benson and Esher's three printed volumes instead. The consequence, though, is that the narrative embedded in The Letters of Queen Victoria has been unwittingly enshrined in the many biographies that have appeared down the decades of the 20th century. And it's still happening today. Look at Young Victoria, Julian Fellowes's film of 2009. In this luscious costume drama 60-year-old Melbourne is played by 40-ish Paul Bettany as the kind of handsome housemaster on whom it would be easy for anyone, boy or girl, to have the most tremendous pash. Such a delicious distortion is a timeless reminder of how important it is for biographers to find the time, space and will to battle back to the primary sources. Even in an age of shrinking book advances and research grants, there is no substitute for sifting through the raw material of history as opposed to working from someone else's cut and paste." - Guardian
"This exciting and important piece of archival investigation fills in some enormous gaps in royal history and in Queen Victoria's official biography." - Booklist
Original and important, this book represents a major contribution to our understanding of the modern British monarchy.” Sir David Cannadine
Hats off to Yvonne Ward . . . who has exposed the gentlemanly networks that tried to hide the truth about Queen Victoria.” Robert Lacey
"Yvonne M. Ward has done a sterling job of delving into history to find out how the reputation which one queen guarded so fiercely during her lifetime continued to be manipulated and reshaped even after her death." - Lucinda Hawksley, author of The Mystery of Princess Louise.
About the Author
Yvonne M. Ward is a historian with a doctorate from La Trobe University. Her publications include the lead essay in a special edition of
The Court Historian, published to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. This is her first book.